Quality education is key to helping people contribute to the development of their communities and their countries. Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi, acknowledged that there is only so much that a country with modest means, like his own, can achieve even after increasing education spending from 12.5% of their total domestic budget in 2010 to 21% in 2015. Countries like Malawi rely on GPE's help to expand access to quality education.
Educating every child is a universal responsibility because in today’s interconnected world, challenges and gains in low-income countries do not remain local. Without GPE’s support, some 825 million young people risk being left behind, which could lead to global instability and other crises that will threaten not just individual countries or regions, but the entire international community. The momentum countries like Malawi have generated can be sustained only if donor support remains strong, and Mr. Mutharika is urging donor countries to contribute generously to GPE at its upcoming financing conference in Senegal.